SwiftBlog

For decades, Teresa Lancaster talked about the rape and sexual abuse she endured at the hands of a local Catholic priest, police officers, and other men in her Baltimore community. She even told her husband, Randy, about it the night they met at a party. “I had a habit of doing that,” Lancaster told Vulture in an interview. “I think it was my own way of therapy.” Nevertheless, Lancaster’s participation in The Keepers — Netflix’s unflinching documentary series about the horror she and others endured at the all-girls Archbishop Keough High School — followed years of silence. [Read More]

“I was never at a place where rehab would have been appropriate Booze was what would make me want to stay out all night and do some blow or smoke a joint or whatever, so shutting that off was key. It’s like ketchup and French fries — I don’t want one without the other. So that’s the moment: Do you want to continue being great at being in your 20s, or do you want to step up and graduate into adulthood? [Read More]

One of the great pleasures of Asteroid City is reflecting on how this duo’s collaboration has changed over the decades. “I was 17. He was the first person that wasn’t in my family and was over the age of 20 that actually asked me a question and cared what I said.” That was how Jason Schwartzman recalled meeting Wes Anderson so many years ago. Speaking at the Cannes press conference for Asteroid City yesterday, the actor added, “He was curious about what I was interested in. [Read More]

There are plenty of great scene details in Mark Binelli’s Jay-Z Rolling Stone cover story, going on newsstands this Friday: Jay discussing tie knot sizes with his personal stylist in his 39th-floor corner office overlooking Times Square; Jay gushing over Drake’s enunciation skills; Jay mispronouncing a former Frasier star’s name at a public charity function (Chelsea Grammer!). It’s also just a great snapshot of this particular odd moment in the 40-year-old’s career, where hit singles and meetings with eccentric Russian billionaires come in equal measure: Yeah, annoying bloggers like us take potshots at his rapping skills, but he’s still, as he gladly points out, just, if not more, relevant to hip-hop — and not just pop culture in general, like, say Diddy — than he’s ever been. [Read More]

Summer of scam forever! Jennifer Lopez will star in an Annapurna adaptation of a New York magazine report written by (Anna Delvey story scribe) Jessica Pressler. In “The Hustler at Scores,” Pressler documented a shrewd group of strippers who — through drugs, strip clubs, and just plain finesse —manipulated wealthy Wall Street bros into running up $20,000 tabs on nights out, and even pocketing cash themselves. Per Variety, Lopez will play the ladies’ ringleader. [Read More]

The cast of Funny or Die’s new IFC series The Spoils of Babylon keeps getting more and more impressive. The network announced today that Jessica Alba, Val Kilmer, Tim Robbins, and Michael Sheen are joining the cast, which already includes Kristen Wiig, Tobey Maguire, Haley Joel Osment, and Will Ferrell. A parody of epic ‘80s miniseries like The Thorn Birds and Winds of War, the six-episode show is in production now and is expected to debut in early 2014. [Read More]

Talking with The Hollywood Reporter in celebration of Coyote Ugly’s 15th anniversary back in August, the film’s crew discussed, among other hot topics (Kevin Smith penning an early draft of the script, for starters), that Jessica Simpson was a viable “contender” for the role of heroine Violet Sanford. “We did our due diligence and saw everybody,” said director David McNally, who noted that Jewel was also up for the roll before it ultimately wound up going to newbie thespian Piper Perabo. [Read More]

In Idiotsitter, Charlotte Newhouse plays a woman tasked with making sure a house-arrested rich adult-child, played by Jillian Bell, doesn’t get into trouble; while as writing partners, Newhouse and Bell are prone to egg each other on. It’s a relationship that is on full display in the writing of their frequently ridiculous show wrapping up its first season on Comedy Central tonight. The dynamic was honed at the Groundlings, L. [Read More]

Summoned with the doubleneck Gibson. He didn’t get the led out, but we’ll still take it. Jimmy Page made a surprise appearance at this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, marking the first time in nearly a decade that the guitar legend and his equally legendary ponytail performed live in any capacity. The reason? To toast Rage Against the Machine. Just kidding. He made the trip overseas to induct Link Wray, his “hero,” into the Rock Hall, both with a pre-recorded message and a performance of “Rumble” — the sexy, distorted morphine drip of a song that got a young Page to pick up a guitar. [Read More]

Lynne Ramsay is a bad ass. The Scottish writer-director of modern classics such as Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar is also a brilliant writer and visual poet and one of the most important living filmmakers we have, but at the end of the day, please do not forget: Lynne Ramsay is a bad ass. Her films, which often deal with some configuration of decay, grief, and youth, are tough as nails without sacrificing an almost terrifying beauty, and her career has had the kind of trials and tribulations that would flatten less assured artists. [Read More]